Devices for securing a part in a particular position vis-a-vis another structure are available in a wide variety of shapes and sizes and utilize any of a variety of adjustment techniques as well as techniques for mounting upon the structure or for engagement with the part.
Particular problems are, however, encountered with devices for mounting elongated parts composed of synthetic resin or plastic material upon a structure, e.g. for mounting adjustably so-called synthetic resin profiles and especially tubular members.
The term "profiles" is used herein to refer to elongated synthetic resin members of any closed peripheral shape, the periphery being circular or polygonal and the body being generally hollow or tubular although the principles of the invention apply to solid bodies as well.
Obviously when a tubular body constitutes a synthetic resin part to be mounted in a particular position, orientation or location on or with respect to a support structure such as a floor, ceiling, roof or wall member of a building, it is usually inappropriate to drill through or pierce the tubular member so as to enable it to receive a threaded anchor such as a bolt since penetration of the tubular member creates sealing problems whether the tubular member serves as an electrical conduit or as a fluid-carrying duct.
It is, therefore, desirable to support such members by means engageable externally therewith and it is known, for example, to suspend pipes by hangers which react beneath the pipe and are connected to ceiling joists.
Such systems, while effective for elongated members in the form of metal pipes, beams or the like, do not afford sufficient positional stability with respect to many synthetic resin members.
Thus mounting devices have been devised which engage the peripheries of elongated synthetic resin members and serve to connect them to the support structure.
However, experience with such synthetic resin profiles has shown that they have greater thermal coefficients of expansion than metal or concrete members and, when synthetic resin tubes, for example, are subjected to varying temperatures, the expansion and contraction effects upon the tube length tend to cause buckling of the synthetic resin members when they are rigidly or fixedly held at spaced-apart locations on the support.
Conversely, systems which tightly engage all around the periphery of synthetic resin members are not capable of yielding in response to expansion and contraction in the transverse direction or in the peripheral direction caused by temperature fluctuations. Damage to the synthetic resin member can thus occur.
Attempts to solve these problems by the use of conventional tube clamps and suspending arrangements have not proved to be fully satisfactory. For example, a system of the type described in Swiss Pat. No. 467,965 provides vertical adjustability but does not represent a solution to the buckling problem and the same can be said for the system described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,019,705. The band clamp of German patent document No. 27 34 789 does not provide a solution for damage to the synthetic resin member which, may result from transverse or circumferential expansion or enable longitudinal dimensional changes in an effective manner.
Reference may also be had to U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,575,367 and 1,398,294, to French Pat. Nos. 2,313,620, 2,209,909, and 2,225,679, and to German patent document 2,417,942.